Cancer and type 2 diabetes are two of the most significant public health burdens facing the world today, and currently available data suggests their prevalence is expected to continue to increase. Nut consumption has long been hypothesized to have a role in preventing both of these diseases, but until now evidence has been inconsistent.

When a new type of drug or therapy is discovered, double-blind randomized controlled trials (DBRCTs) are the gold standard for evaluating them. These trials, which have been used for years, were designed to determine the true efficacy of a treatment free from patient or doctor bias, but they do not factor in the effects that patient behaviors, such as diet and lifestyle choices, can have on the tested treatment.

New research published in this month's edition of United European Gastroenterology journal suggests that supplementation with vitamin D may impact on the intestinal barrier dysfunction associated with Crohn's disease, and could have a role in the treatment of the condition. The study is by Professor Maria O'Sullivan and Tara Raftery. Department of Clinical Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

A University of Manchester led trial of a new psoriasis drug has resulted in 40 percent of people showing a complete clearance of psoriatic plaques after 12 weeks of treatment and over 90 percent showing improvement. The research tested 2,500 people with psoriasis. Half were given a new drug - ixekizumab - either once every two or four weeks. The other half were given a placebo or a widely used drug for psoriasis called etanercept.

Double-blind clinical trials for new drugs are considered the "gold standard" of medical research because they're designed to determine the efficacy of a treatment free from doctor and participant bias. But one effect these trials fail to measure is how a medication's performance can vary based on patients' lifestyle choices, especially if patients change their habits because they are anticipating treatment, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE.

A single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Cervarix appears to be as effective in preventing certain HPV infections as three doses, the currently recommended course of vaccination. That is the conclusion of a study published today in The Lancet Oncology and co-authored by Diane Harper, M.D., Ph.D., the Rowntree Endowed Chair and professor in the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

A new study by National Institutes of Health researchers has turned traditional genomics research on its head. Instead of trying to find a mutation in the genomic sequence of a person with a genetic disease, they sequenced the genomes of healthy participants, then analyzed the data to find "putative," or presumed, mutations that would almost certainly lead to a genetic condition.